SPRINGFIELD — Bishop Mitchell Thomas Rozanski spoke of the deep faith that his parents instilled in him as he met with members of the Springfield Roman Catholic Diocese for the very first time Thursday morning.

Earlier in the morning, Pope Francis named Rozanski, currently an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Md., as the ninth bishop of the Springfield diocese.

“The gift of my family, the gift of faith that my family gave to me and the gift of priesthood has really been central in my life,” Rozanski said.

Rozanski, 55, was formally introduced at a press conference at the Bishop John Marshall Center by outgoing Bishop Timothy McDonnell, who submitted his letter of resignation almost 18 months ago as required by church law on his 75th birthday.

“I am delighted to announce our wait is over," McDonnell said. “They scoured the earth and they found the right man to take my place.”

Rozanski said McDonnell met him at the airport on Wednesday and spent the whole day with him, taking him around Springfield and to Holyoke and other areas in Western Massachusetts.

“My first introduction of Western Massachusetts has been Bishop McDonnell and he has been so gracious and so welcoming and really ebullient in sharing his joy and his love of the ministry here," Rozanski said. It’s infectious and I hope to take that on.”

Rozanski said he looks forward to working with the diocese and its members over the coming months and years.

"I ask that God continue to unite us to bring us together as a church and especially, to be a people, as Pope Francis tells us so often in his talks, to be a people who truly live the joy of the Gospel and the love of God and draw others to to the same and bring them close to God," Rozanski said.

Rozanski, asked during a question and answer session with the media about how he could bolster enrollment in the diocese's schools, said:

“We have to be creative in ways that we can welcome students into our Catholic schools to keep them affordable and to ensure that we continue to bring the Gospel’s message through the goodness of administrators, the dedicated teachers, the parents and grandparents and all those who support our students in Catholic schools.”

Rozanski also spoke of the need to be welcoming to those who come to Western Massachusetts from such far-flung places as South and Central America and Africa.

“As a church, Jesus gives us the model and the example of welcome, of sharing our faith, of sharing the joy of our faith and I think that is the most important thing we can do as a church,” he said.

Rozanski was well-received by members of the diocese and many spoke of his energy and enthusiasm.

“I am especially excited with his energy,” said Sister Paula Robillard, Director of Faith Formation for the diocese. “I see him as someone who is really interested in what happens to the young people in the church….I have a feeling he will be an evangelizer.”

Leo Coughlin, director of the Permanent Diaconate Program for the diocese, said that Rozanski told him that the Archdiocese of Baltimore maintains a great relationship with its deacons.

“I told him if you support deacons as much as Bishop McDonnell has then we are in good hands,” Coughlin said.

“I think his comments were very articulate and showed that he has a willing spirit,” said Father Jonathan Reardon of the Newman Catholic Center at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. “He is willing to work where the Lord sends him.”

McDonnell said Rozanski’s Baltimore roots are quite fitting because at one time, back when the country was first founded, all of Western Massachusetts was part of the Diocese of Baltimore. At that time, it was the only Catholic diocese from the Canadian border to the Florida panhandle, he said.

“It took them a long time to visit, but today they have more than made up for it,” McDonnell said.

Rozanski will be the region's ninth bishop since the diocese was created in 1870 and the first bishop with Polish roots, according to church officials. To date, at least seven of the region's eight bishops have had Irish backgrounds, including McDonnell, a native New Yorker who took over the reins in 2004. Canon law requires a bishop to retire at age 75, and McDonnell reached that age in December 2012.

Rozanski attended Catholic schools his whole life, including the Catholic University of America and its Theological College, where he received seminary training.

On Nov. 24, 1984, he was ordained as a priest of the Archdiocese of Baltimore during a ceremony at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. On Aug. 24, 2004, he was installed as auxiliary bishop of the Baltimore archdiocese. At the time, he was the country's youngest Catholic bishop in the nation's oldest Catholic diocese.

Rozanski is also co-chairman of the Polish National Catholic-Roman Catholic dialogue.